1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the reduction of copper from an ore and, more particularly, it pertains to the reduction of copper sulfide in an arc heater.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Of the three main types of copper ore, native, oxide, and sulfide, the sulfides are the most widely distributed throughout the world and constitute the major source of this very important metal. Present technology for extracting copper from sulfide based ores includes many separate steps. Initially, the core is pulverized then concentrated by a flotation process. After drying, the concentrated ore is heated in a furnace to obtain a molten mixture of copper and iron sulfides plus some slag. Iron is the main impurity in most copper ores. This mixture of "matte" is transferred to a converter where air is blown into the molten sulfides. The FeS is initially oxidized to FeO which then combines with any siliceous material to form FeSiO.sub.3 slag. After all the iron has been oxidized, the remaining sulfur is selectively oxidized to SO.sub.2 gas leaving metallic copper as the liquid product.